A US woman who shot and killed her husband and two adult children before taking her own life is thought to have committed the shocking crime as a result of being ostracised from the religion she was raised in.

A federal judge sentenced a former Arkansas judge Wednesday to five years in prison — a stiffer punishment than prosecutors recommended — after he admitted giving young male defendants lighter sentences in return for personal benefits that included sexual favours.

Every time I tell a mate I’m doing a story on cryptocurrency, they invariably ask me the same two questions: should they invest their own hard-earned money, and which cryptocurrency will get them a Lamborghini/yacht/island quickest?

In a 60 Minutes online exclusive, reporter Liz Hayes quizzed Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on his relationship with the unpredictable Twitter aficionado and US president Donald Trump ahead of their meeting at the White House Friday.

Vic urges federal U-turn on hospital cash

Victoria wants the federal government to reconsider a cut to the state's health funding at Friday's meeting of state and territory leaders in Canberra.

Health Minister David Davis said the federal government had decided to slash Victoria's hospital funding by $107 million between December this year and June 2013.

He said fewer surgeries would be performed because of the federal funding cut over the Christmas period, unrelated to surgeons going on holidays.

"There will be more closures and less operations performed (over the Christmas holiday period) than there would otherwise have been," he told reporters on Wednesday, ahead of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting.

"I note that the prime minister and premiers are meeting on Friday so we hope that the commonwealth steps back from these decisions."

Mr Davis said the federal government had pulled $475 million in funding to the state's hospitals over four years.

Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek has said the state will actually receive almost $1 billion in extra commonwealth funding over that period.